Staff braced for online rush to beat tax return deadline

Extra IT staff are on standby to cope with the last-minute rush to file tax returns online before tomorrow’s midnight deadline.

Last year more than 25,000 people used the Revenue’s online service (Ros) on the final day.

The www.ros.ie site, which went live in 2000, almost crashed in previous years because of unprecedented internet traffic.

A dedicated helpdesk will have extended opening hours until midnight tomorrow to smooth out any problems experienced by the public.

A Revenue spokesperson said: “Last year some customers experienced difficulties on the last day but these were quickly overcome.

“Although we encourage customers to file their returns early, everyone seems to wait until the last minute to file their returns.”

Last year 1.6 million people used Ros to file a total of €12.1bn in tax returns but the 2006 figures are expected to be higher. The site now processes the payment of 22 different taxes and duties.

“This year’s filing of income tax returns is already up o last year’s figures and we are quietly confident that we will exceed last year’s figures by the deadline of midnight on November 16,” added the spokesperson.

When the service was launched in 2000, it catered only for the business community and an initial target for the service was to collect €62.5m in the first year. However this target was achieved within two months.

Revenue now expects that by then end of 2007, Ros will be used to submit 98% of new vehicle registrations, 95% of Customs declarations, 75% of self-employed income tax returns and 85% of Corporation Tax Returns.

The Ros facility is available 24 hours a day apart from a small 30 minute window in the middle of the night when the site is taken down to extract the transactions that were filed during the day.

The 1890 20 11 06 helpdesk is open until 10pm tonight and until midnight tomorrow.